High-profile nursing home developer who fled country declared bankrupt
LIMERICK: A well know residential care home developer who fled the country late last year has now been declared bankrupt.
John Shee, a high-profile Limerick businessman who fled the country in 2013 in an effort to evade the enforcement by Nama of a €24m judgment secured against him, has been declared bankrupt in Ireland.
It comes as Mr Shee prepares to tackle the long-running case against him.
Mr Shee – a co-founder of nursing home chain Mowlam Healthcare – left for France during the financial crisis, with Gardai then unable to enforce an attachment order for the judgment.
A warrant for Mr Shee’s arrest was issued by the High Court in January 2014 after he failed to meet a deadline to give Nama details of his assets.
The media tracked Mr Shee to Nice in 2015, where he was living. He told the media that he was suffering from aggressive cancer and had been operated on.
The €24m in loans for which the judgment had been secured were originally advanced by AIB.
Mr Shee and Joseph Hanrahan established Mowlam Healthcare in 2000. It grew to be the largest nursing home chain in Ireland.
It was sold to Dublin-based Cardinal Capital last year in a deal that valued the it at about €50m.
Mr Shee and Mr Hanrahan became involved in property development during the boom.
Projects included the Oakwood Retirement Village in Killarney, which Mr Shee and a company controlled by Mr Hanrahan developed in conjunction with a Co Kerry building firm. There was about €43m in AIB loans attached to the scheme
A €23.5m judgment was secured against Mr Shee in 2011. With the loans eventually transferred to Nama, the bad bank tried to enforce the judgment. Mr Shee was given until January 6 in 2014 to prepare a statement of affairs.
He failed to turn up for a subsequent court hearing and was deemed to be in contempt of court.
Mr Shee returned to Ireland last December. At the High Court that month, his barrister said the businessman wished to “face the music”.
